‘By Design’: Original Platner Accuser Lays Into the New York Times for Deliberately Downplaying Her Story

Republican Lyndsey Fifield is accusing the New York Times of deliberately downplaying her abuse allegations against Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, one day after another woman came forward with sexual abuse allegations against the scandal-plagued candidate.

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“The line most shared from the piece was the claim that the Times ‘could not corroborate’ my story despite talking to two of my friends,” Fifield said in a statement on X.

She said that the Times called two of her friends who would not have known specifically about the abuse but could confirm that she and Platner had been in a relationship.

“They simply did not call the other three,” she said.

Her statement was a reaction to the Times’s exclusive June 4 article documenting accounts from several of Platner’s ex-girlfriends who recalled his “‘unsettling’ behavior.” In the article, Fifield explained how Platner emotionally and physically abused her, even providing specific examples.

Looking back, Fifield said she understands why Democrat leaders didn’t seem to take her story seriously at first — and why they are now.

She said that she had gone so far as to give the Times her former roommates’ names and screenshots of text conversations with them discussing Platner “stalking our row house” which was only five houses away from his home. She also claims to have provided the Times with a list of other men she dated, as well as her ex-fiancé and priest.

“They said oh NO we don’t need to bother HIM (or my priest),” she said. “Besides, I had written about it in my diary in detail, they reassured.”

In a June 5 statement to News Center Maine, Platner called that season a “very dark period” of his life and explained that he had been facing “undiagnosed PTSD, too often self-medicated with alcohol, and was a far from perfect boyfriend.”

“I take responsibility for all of that, and wish I had been better,” he said. “Any characterization beyond that is false, and I believe, politically motivated.”

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But Fifield says there is more and wants the truth about Platner laid out in the open.

Fifield said she had given the Times so much evidence that it “seemed to overwhelm” them. As a result, she had been confident that she and Jenny Racicot — Platner’s ex-girlfriend who claimed he sexually assaulted her — provided enough similar evidence of Platner’s abuse to sufficiently validate the accusations against him.

“But tell me again how they ‘could not corroborate,’” she said.

Platner said Monday he is reflecting on the best path forward for his campaign after Racicot told Politico that he “forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections.”

Racicot told the outlet she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner for more than two years when he entered her home in Maine uninvited in late June 2021 “deeply intoxicated” and “forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop.” The report says she cut off contact with Platner after telling him the encounter was not consensual.

“I remember him grabbing my pelvis and being really forceful of me,” she said. “I remember the specific moment where I thought to myself, like, ‘This is no longer my choice.’”

In a video statement on Monday, Platner called the allegations “categorically false,” but said his campaign is “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward.”

Several Democratic lawmakers rescinded their endorsements of Platner on Monday evening, after Politico published its report, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said it would not spend any money in the state if he is the nominee.

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